Martin Braithwaite’s entire perspective of the football world is sure to have shaken up significantly over the past fortnight or so.

Not a year ago he was branded with harsh, hateful words like flop and an absolute failure after not being able to win over fans at Championship club Middlesbrough for two seasons.

The lad had been mediocre, yes, but he received near-universal condemnation from the media that nearly derailed his career.

After his exit from English football, Martin, however, found a new lease of life with bottom-of-the-table Leganes in the La Liga.

Apparently, his somewhat improved form was good enough for a club as big as Barcelona to consider him as a backup striker.

And, while his inclusion into the squad was only to cover for an injured Luis Suarez, the Danish forward has quickly found fans for what is, basically, a quintessential underdog tale.

The striker, bought by the Blaugrana for roughly £18 million, failed to impress anyone in the stadium during his unveiling, performing and failing at some tepid shows of skill.

However, since that day, reports have constantly emerged of his hard working ways in training and his desire to learn.

The culmination of this effort was seen in his debut against Eibar, where he nearly bagged a goal and provided an assist to none other than Lionel Messi.

Safe to say, his detractors are definitely sitting up and taking notice of his determination to prove them dead wrong.

An aspect of his training that is especially noteworthy is his ability to constantly absorb knowledge imparted by the best in the business who he regularly works with.

Of them, Braithwaite clearly looks up to Messi and has been spotted trying to implement more of the Argentinian’s game in his.

A video that surfaced on Twitter recently showcased exactly how successful Martin has been in his efforts. In the clip, Braithwaite can be seen going over some attack scenarios with his squad mates who’ve been divided into two teams.

Martin, after a touch of passing the ball around with Arthur, goes on a pacey run all of a sudden, taking the opposition by surprise.

The lad then takes the ball, dribbles it comfortably past three defenders and calmly slots it into the net. The resemblance to Messi’s famous displays of skill was uncanny.

By Prahlad Rao

Extremely passionate about all things football (NOT soccer), I have been working as a freelance journalist for five years now. I am massively invested in the English leagues and would very much like the present season to make a comeback on the telly, thank you.